Rage lose rubber match, 5-1

January 27, 2008 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Rocky Mountain Rage News Release


Youngstown, Ohio - In the rubber match of a three-game weekend set, the Youngstown SteelHounds defeated the Rocky Mountain Rage, 5-1, at the Chevrolet Centre.

The SteelHounds rebounded well from last night's 7-1 loss to the Rage and controlled play during the opening 20 minutes. Despite out-shooting Rocky Mountain, 12-5, though, the game was still scoreless heading to the second.

Youngstown finally broke through with a pair of goals less than a minute apart early in the middle frame. Andrew Scampoli fired a puck in from the point at 3:57 before Mark Johnson got a piece of a shot from the blue line that just rolled inside the post at 4:49.

Johnson's goal touched off a wild sequence of events. Rage starting netminder Scott Reid took exception to all the SteelHounds traffic coming his way during the opening 25 minutes and finally took matters into his own hands by lashing out at Johnson just after the latter scored. Reid's actions sparked a line brawl, which culminated with Youngstown netminder Andy Franck coming the full length of the ice to drop the gloves with his fellow Northern Conference All-Star.

Following the fight between the two All-Star teammates, order was restored. Both goaltenders were eligible to return to action, but only Franck resumed his position between the pipes as Reid was replaced by Terry Dunbar.

Now back to the business of trying to climb out of a 2-0 hole, the Rage's top-ranked power play failed to capitalize on three straight chances mid-way through the period and still trailed by two after 40 minutes.

Youngstown in effect thwarted any chance of a Rocky Mountain comeback with a four-on-four goal from Eric Main with 5:03 gone in the third to up the lead to 3-0. Daymen Rycroft did score his CHL-best 34th goal of the season for the Rage at 8:30 to extend his league season-high goal-scoring streak to 10 games in a row, but the SteelHounds tacked on two more - both off clean break-aways as the Rage were throwing everyone into the offensive zone - at 11:36 and 14:09 for the 5-1 final.

The Rage lost two of three this weekend in Youngstown and stand at 28-7-3 with 59 points, six points clear of the Colorado Eagles atop the Northwest Division.

Rocky Mountain now heads to South Texas as it continues its longest road trip of the season with games in Laredo (Jan. 30), Corpus Christi (Feb. 1), and Rio Grande Valley (Feb. 2). The seven-game trip finally concludes in Tulsa on Feb. 5 before the Rage return home to Broomfield Event Center on Feb. 8 and 9 against the Arizona Sundogs and Odessa Jackalopes, respectively.

Single-game tickets for the remainder of the 2007-08 regular season are available with prices ranging from $18 - $43 per seat (parking included). Fans can purchase tickets at Broomfield Event Center's box office or through Ticketmaster by logging-on to www.Ticketmaster.com, calling (303) 830-TIXS, or visiting any Ticketmaster retail outlet.

For group ticket information, please call the Rage at (303) 439-RAGE or visit www.rockymountainrage.com.



Central Hockey League Stories from January 27, 2008


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